THE EUROPEAN MINERALS DAY LAUNCH EVENT STARTED FROM BULGARIA
THE CELEBRATION WAS HELD ON AN OPEN KAOLIN QUARRY IN VETOVO
Vetovo, 13.05.2011 – The launch event of the European Minerals Day 2011 was in Bulgaria. The country gave start to the celebrations happening between 13 and 15 May in 200 places in 32 European countries.
The ceremony was held on the open quartz and kaolin quarry of Kaolin JSC in Vetovo. Official guests were Vladimir Uruchev, Bulgarian Member of the European Parliament, Plamen Nunev, MP from GERB, Plamen Stoilov, Regional Governor of Ruse, Milena Tsenova, Head of the Political Cabinet of the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism, Christopher Boyd from the European Commission, Mayor of Vetovo Reyhan Kabil, Mayor of Kaolinovo Nida Ahmedov, Mayor of Dimitrovgrad Stefan Dimitrov, Dr. Michelle Wyart-Remy, IMA Europe Director and Secretary General, Petko Dimitrov, Deputy President of the Confederation of Employers and Industrialists in Bulgaria, Ivan Andreev, Executive Director of the Bulgarian Chamber of Mining and Geology, Nadezhda Lazarova, Executive Secretary of the Bulgarian Association of Agglomerate Material Producers, Ass. Prof. Luyben Totev, Dean of the Mining Engineering Department of St. Ivan Rilski University of Mining and Geology, mining companies and leading glass and ceramic producers.
The European Minerals Day 2011 was personally supported by the European Commissioner for the Environment Mr. Janez Potočnik, who sent his special video-message for the event. Mr. Potochnik expressed his readiness for joint work on implementing a resource-efficient Europe roadmap as part of the Europe 2020 Strategy. “The quarrying and mining sector can preserve our environmental assets. The extractive industry has the experience in integrated planning, management and restoration – the things that are good for biodiversity and for business”, said the European Commissioner for the Environment.
To see the video-message, click here.
"It is a great pleasure for us to host this event. Aggregate material quarries are often on the border to Natura 2000 sites. We can certainly say that through our responsible operations we not only do not jeopardize populations, but we in fact work in symbiosis with biodiversity”, said Mr. Alexander Prokopiev, Kaolin JSC Chief Executive Officer.
Bulgaria was among the first countries, in which the European Minerals Day was launched. The initiative had its first event in 2007 and is now on its way to becoming a world initiative. The celebration in Bulgaria was organized by IMA Europe and its member Kaolin JSC, with support from the Bulgarian Association of Aggregate Material Producers BAAMP, the Bulgarian Chamber of Mining and Geology BCMG and St. Ivan Rilski University of Mining and Geology.
One of Day-related events was the opening of the Shadows in the Rocks. Minerals and Biodiversity exhibition in Ruse Regional Museum of History, organized in joint efforts with Kaolin JSC.
After the ceremonial launch of the European Minerals Day in Vetovo, the guests visited a factory, a Kaolin JSC tailings dam in Vetovo and an exhausted quarry that has turned into a new habitat of dozens of bird and animal species. Forestation of 400 decares with 150000 saplings is planned. The site is not only scenic; it has a high scientific, research and educational value, because a Geotope - a geological phenomenon – can be seen there.
Experts believe that the geo-diversity of the region has the potential to expand and even modify the concepts of the regional and global geological and geo-morphological development.
In parallel to the launch of the European Minerals Day, Kaolin opened all its quarries to 400 children from different places around the country: Senovo, Razgrad, Kaolinovo, Suvorovo, Dabravino, Aksakovo, Dimitrovgrad and Topolovgrad.
